Franklin Assistant Fire Chief Jim Wilber

U.S. Marshals, State Police & the Binghamton Police Department Warrant Squad, arrested 70 year old Theodore Johnson of Binghamton on a federal warrant for narcotics conspiracy. JOHNSON was turned over to the DEA for arraignment in Federal Court in New York City; his arrest was in connection with a large scale investigation involving an unsealed indictment in Manhattan federal court in which 24 people were arrested for Oxycodone trafficking in the Bronx.

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State Police investigated an accidental death at the Forest Lake Campgrounds in the Town of Windsor. 39-year-old Richard McKee Jr., of Windsor was walking the property & entered onto a section of ice located above open running water, the ice broke and McKee entered the water up to his chest. Police reported that McKee became unresponsive while walking back to his vehicle, he was transported to Wilson Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased. An Autopsy is scheduled for today.

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State department of Taxation and Finance officials reported that e-filing continues to significantly advance over paper filing. So far, more than 1.3 million taxpayers have e-filed their income tax returns, only 8,000 paper income tax returns have been submitted. This year, almost all New Yorkers can prepare and e-file their State returns for free.

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Funeral services will be held Saturday at 11:00 AM for Franklin Assistant Fire Chief Jim Wilber, at the Franklin central School. A reception will follow at the Franklin fire Department. Wilber died from heart related problems Sunday morning while responding to a motor vehicle accident for the Franklin Fire department, he had served in the Franklin & Wells Bridge fire departments for 40 years. Fire departments planning to attend the funeral services should contact the Delaware county emergency services office at 746-9600.

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Homeowners who receive an exemption under the state’s Basic STAR program faced a December 31st deadline to re-register in order to keep receiving the benefit as part of a plan to cut down on fraud. Since then, the state Department of Taxation and Finance has continued to accept late registrations on its website and will until March 7. But those who miss the March 7 deadline may not be out of luck. The governor’s sate budget proposal would allow the tax department to reimburse homeowners who register after receiving their school-tax bill this fall. Cuomo and lawmakers face an April 1st deadline to put a new spending plan in place

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A state Board of Regents subcommittee adopted revisions to New York’s Common Core rollout, including making this year’s third-graders the first class to have to fully meet new state standards. If approved by the full board today, students will not need to hit new state targets on Common Core-based Regents tests in high school to graduate until 2022. Before then, students would still take the new tests, but will be able to graduate with lower scores. Previously, this year’s ninth-graders were to be the first to have to hit new state targets on the tests. A separate motion to freeze Common Core-based testing for grades 3-8 was defeated.

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Businesses in the state can now save time and money by filing their Certificates of Incorporation and Articles of Organization online. The new online filing system allows business filings to be processed in minutes rather than a week, and eliminates the need to pay an expedited processing fee. Governor Cuomo said by streamlining the process, it will lure entrepreneurs to do business in the state and create more jobs. The online filing system is available thorough the Department of State’s Division of Corporations website at dos.ny.gov